Last Modified: Friday, October 24, 2008 at 11:52 a.m.

Ryan Michael Phillips, 20, of 205 S.W. 7th St., was arrested at 3:10 a.m. Friday and charged with DUI, leaving the scene of an accident, failing to report a crash involving an injured person and violating restrictions on his driver's license.

Gainesville police Cpl. Kevin Clinton reported seeing Phillips get into a crash at 7200 W. Newberry Road when another car turned in front of his vehicle. Phillips reportedly drove away from the collision without stopping. Clinton said he followed Phillips for four blocks in an attempt to get him to pull over.

Phillips reportedly pulled over into a parking lot four blocks from the crash scene. He performed poorly on several field sobriety tests, according to Gainesville police. Officer Joey Devore said breath tests showed Phillips blood alcohol level at .188 and .183, both more than double the .08 limit at which drivers are presumed drunk in Florida.

In an arrest report, Devore wrote that Phillips claimed he was going to McDonald's to get some coffee, an apparent violation of a business-purposes-only restriction on his drivers license.

Devore also noted in the arrest report that Phillips made the following statements to officers: "I love to drink and drive. I have not done it since the last time I did it," and "I think it will take a serious tragedy for me to learn my lesson. It will probably take

<p>A man suspected of leaving the scene of an accident while driving drunk reportedly told police that it might take someone's death for him to stop drinking and driving.</p><p>Ryan Michael Phillips, 20, of 205 S.W. 7th St., was arrested at 3:10 a.m. Friday and charged with DUI, leaving the scene of an accident, failing to report a crash involving an injured person and violating restrictions on his driver's license.</p><p>Gainesville police Cpl. Kevin Clinton reported seeing Phillips get into a crash at 7200 W. Newberry Road when another car turned in front of his vehicle. Phillips reportedly drove away from the collision without stopping. Clinton said he followed Phillips for four blocks in an attempt to get him to pull over.</p><p>Phillips reportedly pulled over into a parking lot four blocks from the crash scene. He performed poorly on several field sobriety tests, according to Gainesville police. Officer Joey Devore said breath tests showed Phillips blood alcohol level at .188 and .183, both more than double the .08 limit at which drivers are presumed drunk in Florida.</p><p>In an arrest report, Devore wrote that Phillips claimed he was going to McDonald's to get some coffee, an apparent violation of a business-purposes-only restriction on his drivers license.</p><p>Devore also noted in the arrest report that Phillips made the following statements to officers: "I love to drink and drive. I have not done it since the last time I did it," and "I think it will take a serious tragedy for me to learn my lesson. It will probably take</p><p>someone dying for me to learn my lesson."</p><p>Phillips was being held at the Alachua County Jail on Friday.</p><p><i>Karen Voyles can be reached at kvoyles@gmail.com or 359-5656.</i></p>